I am an educator and I accidently bought two HBO documentaries. I found them to be very educational and revealing of some deep critical stories of great human interest. As a sociologist, I appreciate documentaries that try to portray human life, social struggles, culture and society in their complexity. I subsequently started ordering HBO documentaries and to be frank, I have never been disappointed with any that I bought. I always find something of sociological interest.

The documentary in reference is useful for teaching any course on cross-cultural understanding, the struggle for social change and equality outside the Western world, and the shared humanity of all of us irrespective of where we live. Often people in the Western world look down upon countries in the Middle East. Most people for instance in the U.S. do not know much about Iran (I mean no disrespect please) except superficially about the revolution of 1979, the controversial and unthoughtful comments of their president, and their nulcear project.

But this documentary gives us a gaze and an insight into the depth, complexity and cultivated nature of Iranian culture. It demontrates that there are many voices in Iran other than that of the president and the religious elites. The documentary makes us identify with their yearnings and aspirations and see them as human as we are. This promotes greater cross-cultural hermeneutical understanding, which we need in the 21st century more than any other time.

"NEDA" is adventurous in her struggle for human ideals that people in the West think they monopolize. She is like many other women that struggle for social justice in the U.S. even though she did not have a social movement.

As an educator, I commend HBO for their deeply educational documentaries that portray to us stories and events of great human interest that one can use as educational tool. The documentaries I use make me and my students search our souls and feel greatly challenged beyond the mundane.

I recommend this documentary to anyone interested in understanding the social cost for the struggle for social change and the courage of the Iranian people who I have great sympathy for. It is an example of political power struggles and the many variables that condition it.